MIT.nano, Building 12

Dedicated to experimentation and instruction, MIT.nano represents one of the largest commitments to research in MIT’s history. The facility will carry the last two decades of nanoscale characterization and investigation into new realms of application and discovery.

-71.091500000042.3602000000

MIT.nano, Building 12

Status:In construction

Themes:Innovation and collaboration

Completion:2018

Dedicated to experimentation and instruction, MIT.nano represents one of the largest commitments to research in MIT’s history. The facility will carry the last two decades of nanoscale characterization and investigation into new realms of application and discovery.

Overview

Status

In construction

Completion Date

2018

Themes and priorities

Innovation and collaboration

Recent discoveries have caused a revolution in our understanding of how materials behave at the nanoscale (one billionth of a meter). MIT researchers are exploring the ways nanoscience and nanotechnology will impact the urgent challenges of our time in health, energy, computing, and more. The construction of MIT.nano will further these innovations. “Even big problems have answers if you have your hands on the right tools,” says MIT President L. Rafael Reif. “Because nanoscience and nanotechnology are omnipresent in innovation today, a state-of-the-art nano facility is the highest priority for MIT, the School of Science, and the School of Engineering.”

The MIT.nano facility will combine the Institute’s nanotechnology, materials, and engineering systems research with the most advanced fabrication tools and materials processing capabilities. Under a single roof, MIT faculty and students will distinguish and manipulate materials at the atomic scale, create novel and innovative devices, and develop ways to implement those devices within larger systems.

Occupying the footprint of Building 12 just steps from the Infinite Corridor at the heart of the MIT campus, MIT.nano will support the activities of 2,000 MIT researchers. It will streamline delicate experimentation and prototyping by bringing together complex research activities that are currently distributed around campus. A world-class facility, it will modernize MIT’s research capacity and deepen the collaboration between disciplines, nurturing game-changing ingenuity and advancing the frontiers of innovation without boundaries, for the betterment of humankind.

Preparation of the building location site began in June 2014. Building construction will proceed through 2017 with occupancy commencing in 2018.